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OSTWALD RIPENING PHENOMENON
(W. Ostwald, 1896)
• Standard application refers to a size distribution of crystals composed
of a single species. These are suspended in a solvent that is close to
saturation in that species.
• Due to higher surface/volume ratio, smaller crystals are more soluble
than larger crystals.
• Molecules preferentially leave small crystals, diffuse through the
solvent, and add to larger crystals.
• Eventually only a single large crystal will remain, in contact with a
solution whose near-saturation concentration is determined by that
crystal's size.
ACS Presentation 4-9-13
F.H. Stillinger
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